Archives

Wednesday, February 12, 1913: Whose birthday is it? I heard that question asked today. Knew it before anyway. Was weighed today. Not very pleasant news. It was a pound more than last time, but I owe some of that to heavier clothing.

At last we have our subject to write upon. Titled the American Revolution. Wonder if I could get the gold piece. At least I intent to try and do my best.

Source: Wikipedia

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

A hundred years ago two presidents’ birthdays were celebrated in February. Lincoln’s birthday was on February 12 and Washington’s on February 22– though Lincoln’s Birthday never was an official federal holiday.

In 1971, the observance of Washington’s Birthday was shifted to the third Monday in February as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The Act did not change the name of the holiday, but it is now commonly referred to as Presidents Day in honor of both presidents.

I think that people have been worried about weight for a long time. Grandma mentioned her weight several times in the diary–and there are articles in the hundred-year-old issues of Ladies Home Journal about dieting.

While I had visited Monticello and knew a lot about Jefferson, I hadn’t really known what kind of man Lincoln was until I saw the movie with Daniel Day Lewis. Seemed like the poor guy was living in the wrong era. His ideas and beliefs were so much more progressive than a lot of his contemporaries. I admired his will to change the world and go against the grain to do what was right.

Weird, for some reason I thought girls back then wouldn’t worry about their weight as much. Despite the great time-gap, Helena was still a lot like today’s teens…or should I say, today’s teens are a lot like teens in 1913.

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.